It?s hard to write off a team that can bring Roger Clemens to stop a losing streak. Drayton Mclane also figured, if Rajah can make the road trip, so can I. He was spotted smoozing with his pal Royals owner David Glass and possibly asking if there were any more deals he could pick up at the always low prices featured by the Royals.
The important part of this game was the scoring done in the first inning, and all with two outs. Elvis banged a double to score Pigpen from 2nd, and Maximus brought his favorite slashing swing to a letters high off speed pitch, doubling in two; 3 to 0 for Rajah right out the gate. Against a lefthander no less.
The game clipped along at a familiar pace for the Astros, threaten early then hibernate.
In the 5th The Big E worked himself into some trouble with a couple walks. Suddenly, he developed a problem with the mound, so he went and talked to the 2b ump, pawed some at the mound and out came Dana Demuth from behind the plate, ?sumpin wrong with the accommodations Mr. Clemens?? ?Not really Dana, but while you?re out here could we talk about your corner calls?? He might have said. In any case Demuth went back behind the plate and suddenly Roger was getting the corners again.
The Royals pitcher Mr. Howell, for some reason there was considerable talk of where he went to school, brought an extensive collection of off speed offerings. Many bounced and were admirably handled by a nimble John Buck. Mr. Howell, in just his second major league start, looked more like Lovey in the first. After that he settled down and kept the Astros from scoring further runs until Mo lined a homerun in the 6th.
In the 7th the Royals toddled out another one of their young pitchers. Leo ?The Blade? Nunez, about whom Jose says ?Hoh my gaw, he got the fassball!?. Nunez?s windup looked like four girls in prom dresses all jumping out of a Ford Fiesta at the same time.
97 mph fastball or not, Bruntlett greeted Nunez with a homer. Combine that with the nifty play he made in the 2nd in left and JD and Brownie think he's sniffing around for more pt.
Add two more runs scored during the inning. 7-0 Astros. One potentially bothersome thing happened in the 7th, Berkman, scampered to 2nd on a wild throw home and may have tweaked his knee. Lamb went in to run for him. No news yet and Elvis was smiling in the dugout afterwards.
The Royals worked Clemens pretty good, and after the 6th he was up to 108 pitches and astoundingly, still with an ERA at the Blutarski line on the road. The game passed into the hands of the bunch that has let him down so many times in the past. However Qualls worked himself out of a bases loaded situation. Then Franco and Harville also contributed a scoreless inning each to preserve the shutout win.
Tomorrow at 6:10, Oswalt vs. D.J. Carrasco. Royals pitchers don't have first names, just initials.
